George Gissing's The Odd Women dramatizes key class and gender issues in late-Victorian culture: the changing relationship between the sexes, the cultural impact of the New Woman, and the conditions created by the expanding service sector of the economy. At the heart of these issues, as many late Victorians saw them, was the imbalance in the ratio of men to women. Because there were more females than males, more women would be left unmarried; they would be odd or redundant, forced to be independent and to support themselves.

In Gissing's story, Virginia Madden and her two sisters are confronted upon the death of their father with sudden impoverishment. Without training for employment, and desperate to maintain middle-class respectability, they face a daunting struggle. In Rhoda Nunn, a strong feminist, Gissing also presents a strong character who draws attention overtly to the issues behind the novel. The Odd Women is one of the most important social novels of the late nineteenth century.

Author Bio

Young, Arlene : University of Manitoba

Arlene Young is a Professor in the English Department at the University of Manitoba.

Introduction

Acknowledgements A Note on the Text George Gissing: A Brief Chronology

The Odd Women

Appendix A: Contemporary Reviews

Appendix B: Attitudes Towards Women and Marriage in Victorian Culture 1. Sarah Ellis, from The Daughters of England (1842) 2. Alfred Lord Tennyson, from The Princess (1847) 3. Coventry Patmore, from The Angel in the House The Rose of the World (1854) 4. Thomas Henry Huxley, from AEmancipationBBlack and White Reader (1865) 5. John Ruskin, from Of Queens Gardens, in Sesame and Lilies (1865) 6. John Stuart Mill, from The Subjection of Women (1869) 7. Mona Caird, from Marriage Westminster Review (1888)

Appendix C: Debate over the Woman Question 1. Grant Allen, from Plain Words on the Woman Question The Fortnightly Review (1889) 2. Bernard Shaw, from The Womanly Woman, The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891) 3a. Eliza Lynn Linton, from The Wild Women: As Politicians Nineteenth Century (1891) 3b. Eliza Lynn Linton, from The Wild Women: As Insurgents Nineteenth Century (1891) 4. Mona Caird, A Defense of the So-Called Wild Women Nineteenth Century (1891) 5. From Character Note: The New Woman Cornhill Magazine (1894) 6. Nat Arling, What is the Role of the New Woman? Westminster Review (1898)

Appendix D: Women and Paid Employment 1. Charlotte Brontë, from Shirley (1849) 2. From The Disputed Question English Woman's Journal (1858) 3. Evelyn March Phillips, from The Working Lady in London Fortnightly Review (1892) 4. Clara Collet, from The Employment of Women Report to the Royal Commission on Labour (1893) 5. Frances H. Low, from How Poor Ladies Live Nineteenth Century (1897) 6. Eliza Orme, from How Poor Ladies Live: A Reply Nineteenth Century (1897)

Appendix E: Conditions of Work for Men in the White-Collar Sector 1. James Fitzjames Stephen, from Gentlemen Cornhill Magazine (1862) 2. B.O. Orchard, from The Clerks of Liverpool (1871) 3. Charles Edward Parsons, from Clerks: their position and advancement (1876) 4. Thomas Sutherst, from Death and Disease Behind the Counter (1884) 5a. H.G. Wells, from Kipps (1905) 5b. H.G. Wells, from Experiment in Autobiography (1934) Appendix F: Map of London (1892) Select Bibliography

George Gissing's The Odd Women dramatizes key class and gender issues in late-Victorian culture: the changing relationship between the sexes, the cultural impact of the New Woman, and the conditions created by the expanding service sector of the economy. At the heart of these issues, as many late Victorians saw them, was the imbalance in the ratio of men to women. Because there were more females than males, more women would be left unmarried; they would be odd or redundant, forced to be independent and to support themselves.

In Gissing's story, Virginia Madden and her two sisters are confronted upon the death of their father with sudden impoverishment. Without training for employment, and desperate to maintain middle-class respectability, they face a daunting struggle. In Rhoda Nunn, a strong feminist, Gissing also presents a strong character who draws attention overtly to the issues behind the novel. The Odd Women is one of the most important social novels of the late nineteenth century.

Author Bio

Young, Arlene : University of Manitoba

Arlene Young is a Professor in the English Department at the University of Manitoba.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Acknowledgements A Note on the Text George Gissing: A Brief Chronology

The Odd Women

Appendix A: Contemporary Reviews

Appendix B: Attitudes Towards Women and Marriage in Victorian Culture 1. Sarah Ellis, from The Daughters of England (1842) 2. Alfred Lord Tennyson, from The Princess (1847) 3. Coventry Patmore, from The Angel in the House The Rose of the World (1854) 4. Thomas Henry Huxley, from AEmancipationBBlack and White Reader (1865) 5. John Ruskin, from Of Queens Gardens, in Sesame and Lilies (1865) 6. John Stuart Mill, from The Subjection of Women (1869) 7. Mona Caird, from Marriage Westminster Review (1888)

Appendix C: Debate over the Woman Question 1. Grant Allen, from Plain Words on the Woman Question The Fortnightly Review (1889) 2. Bernard Shaw, from The Womanly Woman, The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891) 3a. Eliza Lynn Linton, from The Wild Women: As Politicians Nineteenth Century (1891) 3b. Eliza Lynn Linton, from The Wild Women: As Insurgents Nineteenth Century (1891) 4. Mona Caird, A Defense of the So-Called Wild Women Nineteenth Century (1891) 5. From Character Note: The New Woman Cornhill Magazine (1894) 6. Nat Arling, What is the Role of the New Woman? Westminster Review (1898)

Appendix D: Women and Paid Employment 1. Charlotte Brontë, from Shirley (1849) 2. From The Disputed Question English Woman's Journal (1858) 3. Evelyn March Phillips, from The Working Lady in London Fortnightly Review (1892) 4. Clara Collet, from The Employment of Women Report to the Royal Commission on Labour (1893) 5. Frances H. Low, from How Poor Ladies Live Nineteenth Century (1897) 6. Eliza Orme, from How Poor Ladies Live: A Reply Nineteenth Century (1897)

Appendix E: Conditions of Work for Men in the White-Collar Sector 1. James Fitzjames Stephen, from Gentlemen Cornhill Magazine (1862) 2. B.O. Orchard, from The Clerks of Liverpool (1871) 3. Charles Edward Parsons, from Clerks: their position and advancement (1876) 4. Thomas Sutherst, from Death and Disease Behind the Counter (1884) 5a. H.G. Wells, from Kipps (1905) 5b. H.G. Wells, from Experiment in Autobiography (1934) Appendix F: Map of London (1892) Select Bibliography